Day 2 - Viva Las Vegas

Idaho Falls through to Las Vegas

Serious honking traffic through Salt Lake city. We found the Utah drivers to be very scary, they had a tendency to cut you off at the last moment with a sudden lane change. The further south we drove the higher the gas prices went. At the bottom of Utah and into Arizona the scenery became awesome with bright orange and red landscape features.

Here is a special note about stopping for gas in MesquiteNevada. The 76 gas station there is very unfriendly for the Canadian traveler. First there was a requirement to prepay at the pump with a credit card. Ok, I can get my head past that but when it demanded my zip code I was stumped. So I went inside (station - whatever you call them these days), the clerk informed me they get to meeta lot of Canadians this way, nota good sign. From there it got worse. In order to purchase gas, I had to show my Alberta drivers license, then leave my credit card with them and then go back outside and fill up. Coming back in to the store, they processed my card manually.

You are probably wondering how many state troopers we saw along the way. In total between Idaho, Utah, Arizona and Nevada we counted 11 patrol cars either fishing for customers or engaged in ticket writing. Keep in mind all this was in the space of about ten hours of driving.

Our GPS guided us onto the strip but again be careful as it can tell you to stay left and then suddenly you are faced with changing across five lanes to catch the right exit.

I have to say I was totally impressed with my first site of the strip. Seeing it live really brings home how incredible it truly is.

Sleeping in a pyramid- wondering about lines of pyramid power.

We are staying at the Luxor, which from an architectural point of view is quite unique and interesting. Our digital cameras were snapping at a good rate. The room is very nice and strolling through the hotel, there is lots to see. We had a scrumptious supper at the Pharaoh’s feast. An all you can stuff yourself buffet for about $20 ish dollars per person.

My readers know that I am an Internet kind of guy so I was in for a special kind of disappointment with the Luxor. After strolling along the strip and visiting many other hotels and seeing sights like water show at the Bellagio, we returned quite late to our room and it was time to get on the Internet. To my shock and horror, you have to pay about $12. in order to get Internet access. I have never stayed in any hotel that charged for this. So after standing in line and giving them my credit card I headed back to my room (which is quite far from the hotel desk) eager to check my email and write today’s journal. Well it was not to be. I couldn’t make the silly connection work, and by the way , it wasn’t even a wireless connection but a hoky Ethernet cable that was stuffed in the back of the TV cabinet. Well back down to the lobby and guess what, there is a huge lineup for the desk (plane arrived). The bellhop directed me to ask for a manager. Ok, I was told it would be just one minute. After fifteen minutes of waiting I flagged down yet another desk clerk who went to check and was told, oh just another minute. This happened another two times, until I finally lost my patience and growled at a passing clerk. Finally, the “manager” showed up and offered to get an Engineer onto the problem, but by this time it was well after midnight and the kids were already in bed, so no Internet in Vegas.

Last thing about our hotel is the simple lack of coffee. In order to get a coffee, you have to line up at the Starbucks and of course a coffee is around $3.00. While this might not seem like a big sin, us computer/Internet types have coffee flowing through our veins. It is the first thing,I reach for in the morning and I am totally numb and confused until I have my morning shot of caffeine.

Shortly we will make our way to Los Angeles, I am hoping our next hotel has Internet and coffee.

UPDATE on the gas up situation. Seems we ran into the same problem in both Las Vegas and in California. The silly gas pump refused to take our credit card without a Zip code. As I pointed out to one attendant, this caused me to buy a much smaller amount of fuel instead of a full fill up.

Last thing about Vegas, early in the morning I slipped down to the Casino and dropped $5.00 into one of the one armed bandits. To my great pleasure I managed to win $25. I really like leaving as a winner so that was the end of my gambling. Yesa whole $20 ahead.